


Unexpected

by Pookaseraph



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Angst, Bittersweet, Discussion of Abortion, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 08:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9313484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pookaseraph/pseuds/Pookaseraph
Summary: Noctia finds out she is pregnant with Ignis's child and needs to deal with the many consequences of that state of affairs.





	

Noctia'd felt pretty crappy for the last week... maybe two, at first it wasn't anything special, a little more tired than usual, a little less interested in eating than usual, a little more sluggish in practice with Gladio, that sort of thing.

"You're slipping, Noct," he'd said, tapping the wooden practice sword against his own shoulder a few times. "It's been a long time since you gave me so many openings."

She grumbled up at him, hand slowly wrapping back around her own wooden practice sword. "I feel gross."

Gladio, at least, took a small amount of pity on her and walked up to place the back of his hand to her forehead. She'd felt a little flush the last few days, but Gladio didn't seem to think she was running a fever if the way he was looking at her was any indication.

"The Niffs won't give you time to feel gross," Gladio answered, a little less unkindly than it might have been a few years ago. "Tough it out."

It wasn't like any of them would be on the front lines, ever, so she wondered if Gladio's chastisement was even valid. Still she returned to form, at least for a moment, and managed to hold her own for a few minutes before an ungracious whack to her shoulder sent her back to the floor.

"Come on, Noct," he said, this time actually settling onto the floor with her, legs crossed, and she came to sit next to him, mimicking his posture. "Something's wrong. You and Lover Boy have a fight?"

She grumbled at Gladio in response. "Ignis and I don't _fight_ ," she argued. He would sometimes express his disapproval of her latest tactic for distracting herself from her father's rapidly deteriorating health, or the fact that she continued to be picky about her vegetables. If anything, Ignis's promotion to 'Lover Boy' - as Gladio had called him - had made him more bossy, but that just meant the sex was a little angrier for a day or two... something neither of them seemed to mind. "And just because I'm a girl doesn't mean it's about _feelings_ , I just feel gross."

"Alright, alright," Gladio smiled in return, accepting her answer. "You do need to learn to tough it out, though."

"Right." There was even a possibility the malaise and general grossness might signal that the Crystal was growing closer to her, and she'd have to learn to deal with it for the rest of her life. "Alright, let's do this."

She managed to put the slight sickness out of her mind long enough to hold her own and keep Gladio from planting her on her ass again for the next hour.

"And see a doctor if you keep feeling gross," Gladio told her as she headed towards her locker room. "I know you don't like to think about it, but you are the Crown Princess and your health's... pretty damn important."

"Yeah, yeah," she answered with a wave of her hand, but Gladio knew her well enough to accept that was an agreement.

She cranked her shower up to full hot, letting the water scald her back a bit and start to release the tension from her shoulders. Noctia couldn't deny she was probably coming down with _something_... she didn't even feel this bad during particularly angry periods and that was saying something considering how irregular and downright debilitating they could be sometimes.

A particularly terrifying thought struck her a moment later. When had she even had her last period? All thoughts of a relaxing shower forgotten, she hopped out of the shower without even turning it off or drying herself to fish around for her phone and pull open her app. Her doctor - Gladio's mom, actually - had insisted she track her periods at least, just to make sure they weren't getting more irregular, and she checked.

"Five months?" She asked the app in disbelief, even though it couldn't exactly answer. She hadn't gone that long between periods since she was... thirteen maybe. Technically the app could also track sex, but the truth was she and Ignis were... um... it would probably have been easier to mark days they _didn't_ end up having sex anymore.

"No worries," she told the app. "No way you're pregnant."

She glanced down at herself, she was trim as ever, and well-muscled. Noct wasn't much in the habit of weighing herself either, so she couldn't have said if she put on weight. If anything, Ignis was always on her to eat a little more since she tended to be a little too thin by most measures. A few moments later she poked her stomach, it seemed... normal enough.

She shook her head at herself for her silliness. So what if her period was missing in action, that had happened before. It had been that way since she started getting her periods, and hormonal birth control made her want to curl up in a ball and die, so she and Ignis had largely resorted to condoms...

'Not that you always let him get one on before you ride him into the mattress...' a treacherous part of her mind reminded her.

Ok... so... there was probably at least a small possibility she could maybe, possibly, on an off chance be pregnant...

She did the only logical thing in that situation. Blackmailed Prompto into buying a pregnancy test and meeting up with her at her apartment.

"Dude... really?" He asked when he handed it over, arriving a bit after Noctia had gotten to her apartment.

"I dunno," she answered. "Maybe?" She retreated to the bathroom and made a cursory read of the instructions that mostly came down to 'pee on stick, pray for a few minutes'.

She then returned to her living room and hid under a blanket.

"So..." Prompto said, not exactly certain what he was supposed to say. "Yay?"

Noctia didn't even know how to answer that. She and Ignis were... well they'd been in a relationship for probably close to a year now, kissing, hugging, 'I love you's, and an awful lot of sex. They never talked about marriage, although technically Ignis's status wasn't a bad one for a potential husband they'd definitely fallen into a role that was more akin to lovers than a potential spouse.

For one they probably would have, you know, gotten married sometime in the last year if that was where it was heading.

As a female heir to the throne, any child she had, out of wedlock or not, would immediately be considered 'legitimate' and in the line of succession to the throne, as its pedigree as a Caelum and a connection to the Crystal would be unquestionable.

"I dunno, Prom," she said, finally. "I'm not sure I want to be incubating a little person, I'm only going to be graduating high school in another few weeks..."

Exams were over, at least... she's not sure she'd pass, Princess or no, if she'd been forced to study and take exams with this looming over her.

"Well... you know Ignis will support you," he reminded her.

"Yeah..." They were in high school, they'd certainly witnessed the second-hand drama of the knocked up teenager and the deadbeat sperm donor. Even their fairly preppy school had its share of that. "Dad would flip, though... might want to fire Iggy..."

"You can't fire a boyfriend," Prompto said.

"I'm sure dad could figure out a way," Noctia answered. "And it's not just that... technically if dad doesn't approve of Ignis as my adviser he can stick me with someone else until he... um..." Dies. She was pretty sure she didn't want to think about wishing death on her father just to keep her boyfriend-adviser. That was beyond petty.

"Oh." Prompto fell silent. "Well, I guess you'll just not be pregnant and the whole thing will blow over and..."

Her phone alarm screamed at her, and Noctia scrambled over to the bathroom where the sentence was looming. She'd read the instructions for reading the test at least ten times: one line means the test is working, two lines means you've got a bun in the oven.

Two.

She spent a few moments trying to stop hyperventilating.

"Noct?" Prompto called after she'd been in there by herself for at least a minute.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit..."

He came into the bathroom after that, and wrapped his arms around her in a helpful hug, squeezing a little bit of calm into her, or maybe squeezing a bit of the freakout out.

Trembling hands picked up her phone and opened up her text window with Ignis. There was this morning's innocuous messages about what she'd like for dinner, and a bit of expressing worry for her lack of appetite before Ignis had finally suggested avgolemono as a potential 'light but filling' option.

She frowned at the phone.

"Ignis is gonna flip," she said.

Prompto didn't disagree at least.

She must have written some variant on 'oh hey, sorry but I'm knocked up, send help and cookies' a dozen times before she settled for just taking a picture of the tableau: pregnancy kit box, used test, two lines... and then hit send before she thought better of it.

"I'm going to go hide in bed until Ignis comes," she told Prompto.

He gave her a warm pat on the shoulder before letting her be alone. She then went to make a cup of tea, and paused before searching on her phone for the negative effects of caffeine on pregnancy before settling on some of the hot chocolate that Ignis had bought last week and she sat on the couch, hiding under three blankets, reading some reports Ignis had brought over a few days ago.

*

Ignis often made his weekend plans around Noct, but it was also still common for him to spend more than a fair share of time with Gladio in the Crownsguard exercise rooms in the Citadel. Ignis was currently spotting Gladio through chest presses, waiting for his own turn with the weights.

He checked his phone between sets, wondering if he should send a text to Noctia.

"Did you and Princess have a fight?" Gladio asked, and Ignis looked up, confused.

"No?" Ignis could have his moments of relationship cluelessness, but he liked to think he knew Noctia's mind fairly well. He was not only her adviser, but her lover, a duality that lent itself to deep understanding lest he fail at both roles. "I saw her two days ago, she was feeling under the weather and I made birdbeast soup. Was something amiss?"

"She was really off her game today. Wanted to make sure it wasn't a head thing."

"Well, I can assure you she and I are... ah... doing well." Slightly under the weather or not, Noct had insisted he spent the night and they'd shared a lazy, slow lovemaking that had left Ignis smiling all the next day. The rest of Gladio's concern was quite a concern, however. "I didn't know that her feeling under the weather had taken such a toll on her fighting skill," he continued. "She assured me she was feeling better today..."

"Yeah, cuz she'd never bend the truth so you didn't worry about her," Gladio answered with a snort. He finished another set before wordlessly reracking the weights to suit Ignis's workout routine.

Ignis didn't deny that Gladio had a point, Noctia did have a habit of hiding when she was feeling her worst, but it did mean he was usually keen at observing it and making a good show of cheering her up, whether that meant something to do with his duties as her lover, or simply his duties as her adviser, he was more than capable of handling the task.

He made a promise to check in on her later, and then went about his own lifting routine while Gladio spotted him. Ignis was resting after his third set, pondering his next moves, when his phone buzzed, and he picked it up and swiped it unlocked without a second thought.

It was a picture from Noctia, and Ignis frowned for a moment before pulling on his glasses to try to tell what the point of the picture had been.

A pregnancy test... he wasn't completely certain the results were what he imagined, but he hardly thought Noctia would have sent him the picture if it was negative. She'd been feeling a bit under the weather for weeks...

Noctia was... they... his former self-assurances that he was prepared to handle any task his relationship with Noctia threw at him was proven very, very false as he sat in shock, uncertain what he was supposed to do, or even what he was supposed to feel.

"I need to go," he told Gladio.

"... That bad, huh?" he asked in return, and Ignis looked up at Gladio, his own eyes wide and probably a bit concerned.

"I..." He looked at the phone again, the screen now locked but the imagine that had been there now burned into his mind. "I honestly don't know."

He took a cursory rinse and then drove over to Noctia's apartment with all due haste, parking in the basement and heading to the penthouse as fast as the elevator could take him. He let himself in, and was met with a pile of blankets curled up around Noctia, and he would have laughed at the amusing image the bundle made were it not for the fact that his _Princess_ was quite likely pregnant with his child...

"Alright, Noct?" He asked, approaching as he might a wild animal, at least for the moment, until he was certain of her emotional state.

"Iggy?" She looked up at him, and she seemed... yes it looked like she'd been crying. "Are you mad at me?"

"Mad at you?" He asked. More he was mad at himself, his own carelessness and his own behavior that had no doubt made the outcome far more likely than it should have been. "Of course not. I'm rather more concerned you're mad at me."

She snorted. "Well it takes two to make this sort of mess."

"Indeed it does." He came to sit beside her, and he found himself hugging a huge pile of blankets with dark hair peeking out of the center. "Are you... whatever you need, I'll see it done."

He was fairly certain he could scrape up the resources to have an abortion performed and assure it would at least not make it to the press; he highly doubted Noctia would want to have the child put up for adoption, as that would just not be done with a royal child of any legitimacy; to tell the King was to effectively hand in his resignation as Noctia's adviser, but he would do so in a heartbeat if he was asked.

"Do you want it?" She asked him.

"I want what you want," he answered, perhaps too easily.

"No!" She pulled away. "You always do this. You always pretend you don't have an opinion about 'us stuff' and that you'll just go with whatever I want. I'm asking you, as half the source of my current... problem, if you want the royal little bastard."

"Noct," he said, chastised really, he heard his voice get very, very hard, far more firm than he should have been with his princess, but likely what was needed in the other role he held in her life. "Don't talk about it like that. I... I haven't had much time to think on this, a half-hour at most, but... _if_ you wish to be a mother, I would happily take to the role of father. I do not wish you to have a child you'll ever think of as a problem, or a little bastard."

She looked away from him, and he could tell she was ashamed by her own outburst. "Okay," she answered, voice barely a whisper.

"Now, the pertinent question becomes: do _you_ wish to have a child?"

"I.... I don't..." Noctia looked away from him, and Ignis felt his heart break a bit. He'd promised himself he would support Noct, but the truth was the idea of the love of his life having his child did fill him with an unquestionable warmth, but not at the expense of her happiness. "I think I do," she said, causing an emotional whiplash that Ignis was ill-prepared to deal with. "I just don't want it to... change... _us_."

"My dear, sweet princess," he said, pulling her lightly towards him, and she went, folding into his arms. "Of course it will change us, but perhaps it will only change that I'll have another piece of you to love in its own way."

"After I stopped... freaking out, it did seem like it might be exciting."

"Then be excited," he told her. "Feeling better?"

She nodded, although she still looked a bit like a miserable, bedraggled, cat.

"Go clean up," he told her. "I'll fix some dinner."

As soon as she was gone, Ignis was on his phone checking for pregnancy nutrition information and trying not to experience the 'freak out' that Noctia had clearly already worked part of her way through. He should probably feel far more concerned about the consequences of the pregnancy itself on his position with the Crown, his financial security in the future... but instead all he could think was that he was going to be a father, and that he was going to be the father to a beautiful child born to the woman he'd loved with all his heart since he was young.

He decided to cave to the originally promised avgolemono, but resigned himself to a very long struggle to get vitamins and nutrients into Noctia that she was usually very resistant to eating.

"Do I like fatter to you?" She asked, several minutes later, and Ignis took a moment to reflect upon his fortune that he'd gone almost a year into his relationship with Noctia without ever having heard that question from her before.

Now that she had asked, however, he knew she wouldn't take 'no, of course not' as an answer, so he settled the burner for the stock and then turned to look at her full on. She was dressed in a thin, dark blue camisole, with the edges of a lacy black bra showing at her breasts. The bra's counterpart covered her butt, but the lacy sides delivered on the promise of smooth skin for him to touch if he desired.

He hadn't noticed anything awry two nights before, although that didn't mean much when he was definitely more focused on driving her mad with his mouth than gauging her body. Ignis walked over to her and settled the camisole to remove the folds of it, allowing it to settle flat against her belly. His hands trailed against her abs, and he felt her subconsciously tense under his exploration. She had little fat on her, which had always been the case, so the very light bulge in her belly just between her hips, was a bit out of place.

The little professional distance he'd been able to maintain until that moment was shattered in the weight of realizing that he could quite possibly feel the small bump that was a life growing inside of Noctia.

"I'd... um... hardly call it fat," he answered, and her hands came to rest atop his for a moment. "Do you have any idea how long...?"

She shook her head. "I... I've been feeling off for at least two weeks," she confessed. "Nothing obvious, don't give me that look! A little more tired than usual despite getting to bed on time, red meat's not appealed for a little while." He'd noted that peculiarity about ten days ago, but hadn't thought much of it, Noct's pickiness waxed and waned. "Before that, it was studying for exams... I didn't exactly feel great then either, but I was eating pretty normally."

Ignis pondered. "Your period?"

"Five months ago."

That was a bit unusual for her, although he supposed pregnancy would more than account for that. "So anywhere from about four months to.... as little as maybe six weeks... there's no way you're four months pregnant."

"Yeah... but I usually have periods at least every three months, so... it might be as much as like twelve weeks?" She hiked up her shirt to look at the tiny bump there, and Ignis was more than at a loss on the matter. "Damn."

"What?" He asked, eyes shooting up to her face.

"That's a quarter of a pregnancy!" She said, voice slowly rising in panic. "I already barely have any time to get used to this and you're telling me I might already be a quarter through it and I missed all that time to even get used to the idea and..."

Ignis leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, silencing her concerns the best way he knew how, and she responded by leaning into him, and answering with a slide of her tongue against his lips, and he deepened the kiss in response, demanding her attention and receiving it in the form of his beautiful princess yanking herself up to the counter and wrapping her legs around his waist. "You'll be fine," he said, whispering against her lips, and then leaning into kiss along her neck. "And I will be here for you every step of the way."

"That's only fair considering you got me into this mess," she answered, scooting close enough to press tight against him, and make a tantalizing image that always had a fair chance of making him drop whatever he was doing to press her against the nearest surface... but this time, he just pressed another kiss to her neck.

"Let me finish dinner, dear."

Noctia whined, just a bit, but she released him, and he returned to the stove.

"You'll need to see a doctor," he said, finally, adding rice. "That should give you an idea how far along you are... and you'll most likely need some more dietary supplementation..."

"Fiend and traitor," she answered, but he could see that the request on both fronts had hit home. "I don't really want to deal with dad..."

"Nor do I," Ignis was man enough to admit. "However, I somehow doubt it will escape his notice when you are six or eight months pregnant. As much as it is the most complicated option, Doctor Amicitia is no doubt our best option."

Clarus's wife Jasmine had become Noctia's personal physician when she had been nearly killed by a marilith, and then took further leave from private practice when she had turned eleven in order to see to her needs more full time. The more personal focus had also allowed the Amicitia couple to have several children in the recent years, which Ignis understood had been a desire of both of the pair.

"She'll tell dad..."

"No she won't," Ignis answered immediately. "She will encourage you to tell him, of course, but I doubt she will force your hand. I'm fairly certain the fact that you are... sexually active has not reached your father's ear."

Noctia whined the whine she used when he was being entirely reasonable and she knew it. He chuckled in response, and kissed her nose. She then pulled out her phone, and pressed a few buttons, and made the call.

"Do you want me to drive you?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Finish dinner, I'll call a car."

*

Noctia... fidgeted. She had come to the large, wonderfully appointed medical area of the Citadel, and had even sat herself in the private office reserved just for Dr. Amicitia, and she couldn't help but fuss with her jeans and her shirt and then she kicked her shoes against the table and just... _waited_.

Where _was_ she?

"Gladiolas mentioned you were a bit sluggish today," Jasmine said almost as soon as she entered. "Must be serious."

Noctia fidgeted harder. "Can you... just do the examining and I'll work up to it?"

She smiled, kindly. She was a good ten years younger than her husband, Clarus, about forty-five, and she always had a kind smile to go with her dark hair and soft hazel eyes. It took her a few moments to grab some gloves and then begin her exam.

"How have you been feeling?"

"Gross," she answered. "Um... tired, more tired than usual, but I've been sleeping fine, sluggish when I'm awake, queasy..."

Jasmine nodded, no obvious understanding on her face. Noctia imagined that was because there were probably a hundred things that could have been wrong.

"I thought maybe flu..." She said a few moments later... "But... um... I took a home pregnancy test."

Jasmine paused for a moment while she was pulling a stethoscope over her neck, and then turned to face Noctia head-on. "And?" She asked, very gently.

"Yuuuup." She squeezed her hands together, trying to figure out how to even explain everything that was going through her head.

"Have you thought about your options?"

"I'm gonna keep it," she answered, immediately. "I just want to make sure it's... healthy? I don't know."

Jasmine came over and gently eased her onto her back and Noctia helped with bringing her shirt up and pulling her pants down a bit for her to begin her exam. "We could do an ultrasound. That would probably give us a rough age at least. Do you know how far along you are?"

She shook her head. "Probably at least six weeks? The test said it could detect as little as four, but I've been gross for almost that long."

"Well, we'll do that." Jasmine went over to the various machinery that was around, checking through the available items before excusing herself and leaving Noctia to stew even more.

Maybe it wasn't the right move... she was so young, barely eighteen, and Ignis was very mature for his age, but that didn't necessarily mean he was ready to be a father, especially when dad might fire him and he'd have a lot less to occupy his time... she just didn't know.

"You can't tell dad," she said, as soon as Jasmine returned with what must have been the ultrasound.

"Of course not. I do think you should talk to him," Jasmine answered. "Have you... talked to the father?"

"He's... a little freaked out, just like me, but on board."

"Not trying to pressure you?"

Noctia laughed. "Sorry, he's way too concerned about me being comfortable to do that. He wouldn't even tell me if he wanted to be a dad or not, just said he'd support whatever I wanted to do... and then pressured me to come see you."

"Good pressure, then," Jasmine answered with a little chuckle.

Chilly goop spread across her belly, and Noctia shivered a bit, and then Jasmine came to press the wand against her. It took her more than a little while to scoot the thing around, probably looking for the baby or just... something.

"Well... you're definitely pregnant."

Noctia snorted.

"It's hard to get a precise age right now, because your periods are too irregular to measure from. Developmentally, I'd say it's somewhere between eleven and thirteen weeks."

"That long?" She asked, a little terrified that it was on the higher end of her original estimate.

"You being skinny and muscular has the baby riding... 'in' a bit. It'll start heading out in another week or two and you'll start to notice it more. Do you want to see?"

"Yeah!" She answered, still _terrified_ , but also too excited to miss the chance while she was here.

Jasmine shifted around so the screen faced her, and then continued to press the wand to her belly. "You can see most of the parts now, even. Head, hands, and feet are all in place, head looks a good size. It's even tinier than your fist right now."

"It moved!" She gasped, watching the little twitch of her baby's arm.

"There's a heartbeat," Jasmine continued. "And it'll be moving around a good bit, but they're too little for you to really notice yet. You won't feel it for another few weeks, and no one else will feel for a few more weeks after that."

Noctia took it all in, worried, but at the same time a little more excited somehow. _Hers_ , that was Iggy's baby in her, her doofusy, wonderful, sexy boyfriend's baby... and he wanted it too. "Can I take a picture?" She asked.

Jasmine nodded. "I can print one."

"Well I just want to send it to I..." She stopped herself, barely, and she wondered if Jasmine had caught what she'd been about to say. If she did, she made no real indication of it. A few more moments fumbling with the phone and she snapped a picture, sent it, and then added _'11-13ish'_.

A few moments later, she received a response of _'there's an entire little person in you!'_

 _'That's how it works...'_ She snorted again. "Um... so... now what?"

It turned out that 'now what' ended up being pills, supplements, dietary suggestions, exercise limitations and suggestions, and a very motherly hug. "You certain you're doing alright?"

"I will be," Noctia assured her. "You... um... you won't tell dad?"

"No," Jasmine assured her. "I'm your doctor, it's our confidence. You should talk to hi--"

Noctia waved her hand. "It's Ignis's, he's... he's my boyfriend."

"Ignis?" Jasmine's voice betrayed a sizable amount of shock. "How long have you two been together? Since you became sexually active?"

"Yeah, he was my first." She thought about it for a few moments, and couldn't help but remember how awkward and nervesy he'd been when she'd first made her move... "So... don't worry about the boyfriend part, ok?"

"Alright," Jasmine answered. "I'm fairly certain Ignis would rather cut his own arm off than hurt you."

"Mmmmhmmm," Noctia answered. "He's excited though. I'm sort of terrified."

"I was fairly young when I had Gladiolas, twenty-two I think, Clarus and I had just started courting..."

The rest of the Amicitia brood was much closer in age to Iris, in their early teens or younger, while Gladio was older than Ignis at 21. "We're like... a year on or so. Iggy'd know the date."

"I'm certain he does."

"Oh, can I have the picture?" Jasmine handed over a plain envelope with little to identify it, and Noctia hugged it to her chest for a moment. "And I'm fine... really... probably... I'm still getting used to it, I just found out today."

"And the reason Ignis sent you right over to me... Tell him I appreciate it."

"Hrmf. Well, he's cooking back at the apartment, so I should probably get back..."

"Of course he is." Jasmine chuckled. "Give him my best, and I'll see you in four weeks at the latest."

"Yup!"

She arrived back at the apartment just in time for Ignis to whip some eggs and cook them up in the soup before the two of them settled in across from each other at the table.

"Twelve weeks?" He asked.

"Thereabouts." She handed over the envelope and he peeled it open immediately to look. "It's got all its parts, they just need to get bigger now. I... um... Jasmine let me listen to its heartbeat... And I want you to know this is proof that I love you, but..." She handed over the pamphlet that included various recommendations for her nutrition for the coming months. "Please no carrots."

Ignis answered with a chuckle. "As you command."

"I also told Jasmine that... um you're the dad, which was a huge surprise to her, so Gladio must have been keeping his mouth shut pretty well..." She shrugged. "And she said I should tell dad."

"You should," Ignis agreed. "But I won't pretend I'm not terrified of those consequences."

"Yeah... I figure he'll be... happy about the kid. I mean he's not really been on me to get married, but he's certainly suggested I look for a boyfriend. I think it's the Ignis part of the equation that's going to piss him off."

"No doubt. I can't deny that I sometimes worry that I took advantage, even though you were very much the aggressor."

"Hey, I worry about that too. You pretty much had to say yes."

"Absolutely not," Ignis answered, and he reached out to grab her hand and squeeze it tight. "I wouldn't be with you if I didn't love you."

"Ditto..."

Ignis then turned back to the dietary list, reading it as he continued to eat his soup. "There's some recommendations for herbal tea to help with your queasiness... no raw meat..." He continued to read through it. Noctia loved a good carpaccio now and again, but she would cave to the requirement. "I'll go to the store after I clean up and get the tea at least... and some of these vitamins."

"I'm going to have to tell Gladio," she said a moment later. "For training..."

"You're absolutely not--"

"Jasmine says I'm fine to train until the third trimester, and even then I can do fitness even if I'm not getting whacked with sticks. She said she'd do some research on a few of the old Kings to see about the women and how they dealt with the... warping and stuff, but she said to lay off the magic and warping until she checks that."

Ignis looked like he was ready to protest, vehemently.

"Doctor's orders, and plenty of sex and back rubs."

He snorted. "Well, I'll clean up dinner and head to the store."

"I'll do the dishes," Noctia offered. It was rare that she offered, she could admit that, but she figured she should be helping, especially if Iggy as heading to the store.

"You're just trying to keep me from getting carrots."

It was her turn to laugh, and then she smiled up at him. "Maybe a little..."

She packed away the leftovers after Ignis left, cleaning up the light kitchen mess and filling the dishwasher before she began to raid the pantry. No black tea, no canned fish... by the time Ignis was back, Noct had cleared out most of the things she had around the house that she might accidentally eat if she wasn't thinking about it piled on the dining table. She was going to really miss the chocolate covered coffee beans... but she could probably deal with the rest.

*

Ignis was still dealing with the surreal nature of his day, he was going to be a father. Noctia, his princess, the woman he loved more than anyone in the world, was pregnant with his child...

"Oh, hello Ignis."

He froze for a moment, turning to see that he'd run into Jasmine... Doctor Amicitia... "Doctor." It wasn't unusual to run into a member of the court in the store, the high rise Noctia lived in was fairly close to the Citadel, but that didn't change the slight cursing of fate Ignis was doing right now. She was accompanied by Iris, thirteen or so now, and one of the younger boys riding in the cart as the two of them circuited the produce aisle.

"How are you today?"

It felt like a trick question, she _knew_ , and he knew she knew, but for all the world she seemed mostly interested in saying hello to an acquaintance. "Fairly well," he answered, honestly. "Just picking up a few odds and ends... searching for something with vitamin a in it that Noct will eat..."

"Carrots?"

Ignis snorted.

"Sweet potatoes?"

That gave Ignis a moment to consider and he gave a nod, sweet potatoes were close enough to 'real' potatoes for Noct to usually give them a pass, but then sighed when he checked with his list again. "No undercooked eggs..."

Doctor Amicitia gave a very understanding laugh. "You'll figure it out." A few moments later she glanced at her daughter, who was in the midst of trying to get Ignis's attention. "Iris, could you go check the fish counter for prices on the filets?"

Iris grumbled, but did leave, which meant he and the good doctor were alone with a preverbal child.

"You seem to be... focused on a task."

"It's my old standby, I'm afraid: take care of Noct." He thought about it for a few seconds. "I feel rather helpless at the moment, she's putting on a brave face, and I do think she's more happy than terrified, but it's one time I find it hardest to balance my roles in her life. So I am shopping for food..."

"There are worse ways to avoid a tough time emotionally."

"It's hardly tough," he protested. "In some ways quite the contrary once we had discussed... options. I must admit I'm also fearing the reckoning from his Majesty."

He noted that Doctor Amicitia had no kind or calming words on that front. She was not as intimate with the king as even Ignis was, certainly her husband, Clarus, would likely know His Majesty's mind well, but this was not Clarus.

"I'm glad to get to talk to you," she said. "Gladiolas has nice things to say, but..."

"It is another thing to meet someone in person. I understand." He turned and surveyed the produce. "Now to decide which hill I will die on next: spinach, broccoli, or kale."

"Spinach," Doctor Amicitia answered. "Try it in pesto."

"I'd honestly never considered," Ignis answered. "That sounds wonderful and inoffensive."

"Six kids," she answered. "You learn a few tricks."

At first he thought she was referring to Noctia's pregnancy, and then he realized a moment later she was talking about Noct's _eating habits_ and he smiled. "I will be certain to ask for further advice."

He then returned to his shopping, felt as though he'd raided the entire vitamin aisle, and then finally made his way back to Noctia's only to find she was on some sort of rampage through the food supplies. A look over the table found the common theme: foods she shouldn't be eating for the next seven months, and he smiled.

"Let me get these put away, and then perhaps a back rub?"

Noctia groaned, but she looked up from her cupboard rampage and gave him a smile. "Sounds good."

"I'll take this away when I leave tonight, I can leave it at my apartment."

"When you leave _in the morning_ ," Noctia corrected.

He didn't always stay over, but there was something about their relationship that kept him from just assuming he would be requested to stay. She loved him, he knew and believed that, but perhaps there was a small part of him that always expected her to also want her space.

The two of them ended up on the couch after Ignis had finished with the groceries, and he immediately went to work on her shoulders. They always ached after a training day, and he could only imagine it was worse after her kitchen purge.

"So... I was thinking..." She said.

Ignis made a soft hum of acknowledgement.

"We hadn't really talked about it much, and I know you like your space... but what do you think about moving in?" She asked. "I know there's only two bedrooms, and one will have to be the nursery, but you could probably have an office in the dining area?"

He barely had an office in his own apartment. It wasn't a desire for space that kept him from suggesting a move, but more that it would make any pretext for the king impossible to keep up. Considering he was the father of the king's grandchild... such a pretext could hardly be kept up for long.

"I would love to wake up every morning to you at my side," he answered, punctuating the sentiment with a soft kiss to her shoulder.

"Be serious..."

"I am."

She leaned back against him and Ignis hugged her, brushing his lips to the shell of her ear.

"What if... dad fires you?"

Ignis had been considering that question for hours. "I will leave my position with as much dignity as I can muster, but I will always be at your side."

"Romantic..." She answered, turning around so she could curl up in his arms. "Less romantically... I'm going to ask Gladio to do the sword swearing."

"Are you certain you're up for it?" He asked. "The bonding required was quite exhausting for you."

"Hopefully..." She answered following it with a shrug. "Better to do it earlier, I'd think. I'll... ask dad, there's no way he doesn't know if it's safe for me right now or not."

The two of them had accidentally performed a portion of the sword swearing early along in the relationship, as sex seemed to produce many of the heightened connections and emotions necessary to tie Noctia and himself together via the Crystal. A small part of him was jealous to share such an intimate connection to Noctia with Gladio, but the truth was he rarely even considered he would be allowed to retain a position as King's favorite, much less a position far closer to that of a Consort.

"It's a good idea," Ignis admitted.

"What's dad's schedule look like tomorrow?"

"Morning Council," Ignis answered immediately, he'd be there for that, taking notes as ever. "I believe he's scheduled for an afternoon reviewing military objectives with Councilor Amicitia, which I'm certain he will postpone it if you request his time."

She was supposed to join Gladio at ten for training, although Gladio began his own training closer to dawn most days.

"Tomorrow: wake up, go to the Citadel with you, talk to Gladio, training... talk to dad... spend the afternoon in the infirmary."

"If Gladio sends you to the infirmary--"

"If was a joke... about dad and you."

He considered, and had to admit he had a small, guilty moment where he was glad the King wasn't in precise control of his Arsenal any longer... "I will leave my afternoon free, regardless. I will also be leaving around seven in the morning."

She groaned.

"I'll cook breakfast," he promised, as that was the only thing guaranteed to get Noctia out of bed at a reasonable hour.

"I saw that spinach," she said, looking behind her to meet his eyes. "You're a traitor to the crown."

He chuckled and pulled her in, pressing a soft kiss to her nose. "That's for dinner, and you won't even notice it."

"A likely story..."

Still she didn't protest further, and Ignis returned to his task of massaging away the tension in Noctia's shoulders and neck, quite enjoying the way she offered up appreciative noises in response before finally just giving in to the desire to scoot back onto his lap, and Ignis wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a kiss to her shoulder, running his hands gently along her sides.

"I..." He leaned in again, kissing her shoulder and leaving his lips there for a long moment as he collected his thoughts. "I know you've accused me of not expressing my own opinions... of agreeing to whatever you wish, but I will say it now: I'm excited to be a father, quite nervous as well, but excited. Our relationship has remained an odd one since we first came together, as you've seemed uninterested in marriage, while my station generally dictates I should at least have offered... but I haven't, out of fear of losing the intimacy we share. I love you dearly, but I'm not certain I wish to be your Consort. Although I know it can be one filled with affection, the truth is most marriages are of convenience, not love, and I feared categorizing what I feel for you as a convenience."

"You're so inconvenient, Iggy," Noctia answered after a few moments, but she turned around, wiggled to look him in the eye. "I like what we have. I like that it's just us and you can advise me, like you always have, and be my friend, like you always have, and love me..."

"Like I always have," he answered with a quirk of his lip. "Do you want to marry?"

She seemed to consider it before she finally shook her head. "Nope."

A great weight fell from his shoulders at that, at least, and he leaned in to brush his lips to hers, and she answered with her own soft kiss before he pulled her to him and she settled against him, sitting across his lap while he brushed his fingers against her leg.

"Can I get your thoughts on the technological reports before the meeting tomorrow?" He asked, because... well he might still be her lover, but he needed to be her adviser too.

She groaned, but eased herself off Ignis's lap and headed over to the counter, pulling all of the reports and a pen before padding back over to the couch and settling in, this time with her back to the armrest, her feet out in front of her. Ignis settled himself as a footrest, and after a few minutes for her to settle into her reading, he tugged off her socks and rubbed her ankles, grabbing a book from the table - nothing he'd been reading, just whatever was available - and floated into a comfortable silence.

Noctia would pepper him with questions, now and again, and he would answer with further details from earlier meetings before she returned to her reading.

About a quarter of the way through, Noctia gave up on the distance, and the two of them ended up with Ignis sprawled on the couch, and Noctia using him as her own personal couch, her head tucked under his chin, and her legs tangled with his.

She wasn't squishing anything vital, and Ignis gave up on his reading, instead pressing his hands to Noctia's sides before he just gave up his own pretext and settled a hand low against her belly, resting on the tiny bump between her hips.

He then began a one-handed phone inquiry into absolutely everything an expectant father would need to know, starting with developmental milestones and keeping his partner happy, and then descending into diaper changing techniques before finally finding a rather sizable repository of information for cooking his own baby food after the child was weaned.

Far into the evening, they discussed the reports, Ignis's impressions and Noctia's before she wriggled to turn so they were facing each other, Ignis still reclining on the couch.

"You're going to be a dad..."

"Indeed I am," he answered. "And you are to be a mother."

"Not terrifying at all..." She pressed her nose to his sternum and nuzzled. "Did you see its little fingers!?"

Fingers. Ignis chuckled. "Indeed."

"It's going to be alright, right?" She asked, looking up at him, catching his eyes with hers. "I... I'll be an alright mom?"

"The best."

"Well now you're just lying."

*

Noctia woke up at five thirty, promptly told Ignis where he could stuff it, and was allowed to sleep in until quarter after six when Ignis put his foot down on the waking up.

He offered up sweet potato hash.

"Sunnyside?" She asked, frowning at the hard fried egg atop it.

"No undercooked eggs."

She pouted, but it wasn't like she could argue.

Ignis drove to the Citadel, and Noctia watched the city whizz by.

"I'll message you when the Council starts to break up," he told her, with a soft kiss to her temple and then the two of them went their separate ways.

Noctia let herself into her training room, where Gladio was taking a breather after his morning run.

"Thought the Council was already started up," Gladio said, obviously a greeting for Ignis.

"In about five," she answered, and Gladio's head shot up, startled in response. "Hey."

"Are you dying?" Gladio asked, and Noct could tell he was only three quarters joking.

"Nah." She came to sit beside him, and Gladio was watching her now, waiting for her to say whatever she needed to. "So, um... you're going to have to talk to your mom about how to change my training routine around."

"Uh...huh..." Gladio said, obviously following at least the idea that there was something wrong enough that a doctor would be dictating her exercise. "So..."

"Yup... um..." She tried to figure out how to say it. She was going to have to tell her dad in a few hours.

"Are you going... to be alright?"

"Oh, yeah," she laughed. "Sorry, it must sound really bad."

"Ignis hauled ass out of training in a panic yesterday," Gladio said. "That's something reserved for a Code Princess."

"So that's what you call it?" She asked, laughing a little bit even as she thought she should maybe be a bit offended. "Well I suppose it was a... 'Code Princess'..."

Gladio waited.

"I..." She took a deep breath, and then another. "Yeah, I'm pregnant."

Gladio laughed. Not the response that she'd been expecting... until a few moments later when Noctia was _not_ and his eyes grew wide. "Wait... seriously?"

"Yeah. Yaknow how I was feeling off for a few weeks?"

"Ignis... holy shit. You..." Gladio looked over to her. "How long?"

"About twelve weeks," she answered... "But the sparring will need..."

"Mom said you could fucking spar?!"

"Well not for much longer, but just talk with her about it. I don't want to deal with you whining for months about how lazy and flabby I've gotten." She grumbled a little, because that was totally something Gladio did when she was slacking off. "No warping, no elemancy, no getting smacked in the stomach. The gross should pass in a few more weeks, but I'll be more limited in what I can do by then, and we probably can't do real sparring even with just the weighted weapons."

Noctia tucked a leg under herself, trying to put her words together. She knew it was important that she be able to convey herself, but this was much harder than she'd originally thought. She was worried that Gladio would think poorly of her, or Ignis, or both of them, and the last thing she needed was him being an ass about it.

"And Ignis and I talked about it..."

"Getting married?"

"What?" She looked up, confused. "No. We're not getting married." Gladio opened and closed his mouth. "We just thought it would be a good idea to do a sword swearing while I was still early along."

"You want me to rip a greatsword out of your chest, while you're pregnant?"

"It's not that bad," she protested. The first moments were pretty excruciating, but it got a lot better after that, she'd only cried a little bit... "And it would be better to... you know, just have more people who could..."

Gladio reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "Alright, alright. If mom gives the ok, I'm all for it. Shit, you're... for real?"

"Yuuuup," she answered, tucking her other foot under herself as well. "Just found out yesterday..." Her hand traveled down to her belly, and rested on the tiny little bump, barely there, really. "I'm freaking out."

"Can't imagine. I mean... you don't look pregnant."

"It's like this big." She held her hands in a tiny little circle, and then pressed it over her stomach. "Your mom says because of the abs I'll probably not puff out right away."

"Hang on..." Gladio fished out his phone and dialed. The reason became more obvious when a few moments later he continued with: "Hey, mom? Can you come over to Her Highness's training room and answer a few questions. She... uh... told me."

He hung up a few moments later. "Jasmine coming?"

"Yeah, best to get it from the source."

"I don't know if I trust her..." Gladio arched an eyebrow. "Pretty sure she's trying to get Iggy to feed me spinach."

"Oh, Six, you're screwed, Iggy's going to be a nightmare about that stuff."

"He already took my gooey yolks!" Noctia answered, bemoaning it immediately. "You know how I feel about gooey egg yolks all over my food!"

"Oh I know," Gladio answered. "Well, let's start with some stretches, just a bit to get you limbered up."

She nodded, heading to change into sweats and then returned to do a bit of stretching, Gladio observing dispassionately for the moment, only to be interrupted by a soft knock and then Jasmine coming to join them.

"How are you feeling today?" Jasmine asked after she'd shut the door behind her.

"I can't eat runny yolks!" She answered, that was how she was today.

Gladio's mom smiled, and came over to give her a soft pat on the shoulder. "Why don't you two just get started. Gladiolas, don't treat her like she's made of glass."

It didn't take long for Jasmine to rule out the previously oked sparring, which meant that Noct was immediately downgraded back to drills.

"How often do you train?" Jasmine asked, although it was probably in her doctor's notes.

"Summer usually five days a week... although I usually only show up for four... or three," she answered. "And... no school in the fall, dad's looking to have me do more around the Citadel. I probably need to practice regularly if I want to be back in form after... um... I pop."

"Would you like me to talk over your training with Gladiolas?" Jasmine asked, and Noct nodded.

"Yeah, you guys can figure it out. I read that you can start getting pretty... um... bloated feeling?"

"Especially the ankles," Jasmine agreed. "If you don't mind, I'd like to have Gladiolas keep track of your weight on a day to day basis. You've always been on the thin side, and I'd like to make sure you keep a healthy weight, especially since you weigh four pounds less than you did three months ago. You should be up two or three."

"Traitors all around," Noctia said, groaning, but she couldn't deny that her eating habits were terrible on a good day. When Ignis wasn't over and hadn't left food, she pretty much had to resort to Cup Noodles, and if she was very, very patent she might be able to scramble an egg. "Don't worry about it, Ignis is probably moving in, and then I'll never get away with not eating for a whole day again."

Gladio shook his head, as did Jasmine, but at least they knew her well enough to know that was just her being terrible with food. "Lover boy's moving in?"

"Yeah... something about me having his kid?" She shrugged, and Gladio laughed in response before draping an arm over her shoulder and jostling her.

"Come on, let's get back to it, a little hand to hand and knife practice could be good."

Jasmine approved of that, at least, and Noctia worked her way through the various drills Gladio set out. He was a master of most arms, even though he largely only wielded greatsword and shield. It wasn't really a live drill, but she and Gladio did a few practice moves as well, even if there wasn't an approval to do them at full speed.

She did a run, and then weights, and finished with stretching before it was almost lunch.

"Eat," Jasmine said, not particularly gently.

She gave up on the idea of claiming that she'd eaten five hours ago, and instead joined Gladio in his small rooms in the Citadel where he cooked up a ton of chicken and broccoli... and expected her to eat the broccoli and it was just... _broccoli_.

He eventually took pity and gave her some lemon, but she wasn't particularly happy about this as she ate her way through at least seventeen heads of broccoli and it was terrible and she hated it.

Thankfully, she was saved from even more broccoli by her phone buzzing, unfortunately that meant dad was going to be available to talk soon... Shit.

"What's wrong?"

"Dad time..." She answered, tucking her phone away. "Thanks for lunch."

Gladio snorted.

Noct picked her way through the Citadel, eventually ending up outside of the Council Chamber, waiting, and waiting. She texted Ignis, and he assured her things were finishing up, but it was still at least two minutes until the first councilors began to exit the room. Most looked surprised to see her, and gave a bow and a 'Highness', which had her nod in response and they soon headed off. Ignis came to her side a minute or so later.

"How are you?" He asked, voice low.

"Gladio made me eat broccoli..."

Ignis fixed her with a firm gaze and then shook his head. "At least allow me the opportunity to make it something other than that bland monstrosity he calls 'food' when he's not eating freeze-dried noodles."

"You've got _one_ chance, mister," she said, giving him a soft little smile before she saw her father and Clarus exit the Council Chamber and she straightened up to come greet him, giving Clarus a nod before taking in the surprised look on her father's face.

She hadn't seen him in a few months. He was noticeably grayer, far more lines etched across his face, and it was clear he found it impossible to walk without a cane any longer.

Noctia hated seeing him, not because she didn't love him, but because she did. He was her father, he was younger than Clarus, and yet he looked like he could have been her grandfather quite easily.

"Father."

"Noctia?" He looked confused, but soon broke into a bright smile for her. He doubtless knew something was wrong, but he was always good at putting on a brave face. She never even knew what he was thinking.

"Could I... have a moment?" She asked, hoping Ignis was right, she wasn't certain she could stand to wait too much longer to tell him. She might wuss out entirely.

"Of course," he said. "The gardens?"

"Yeah, sure." That was as good a place as any, and he offered her an arm even though she was pretty sure he needed it a lot more than he did, but she tried to be well-bred sometimes and she placed her own hand atop his and they began a slow walk to the elevator.

"Ignis told me you've finished with exams."

"Yeah," she answered easily. "Um... there's not even classes anymore, just waiting a few weeks for grades and graduation."

"How do you think you'll do?" He inquired, lightly, and Noctia almost laughed at it because what did it matter how she did in class, she was a Princess...

"As and Bs," she answered. "Maybe a C in physics," she admitted a few moments later.

Her father nodded, and at least it didn't look like that took a lot out of him, and they finally made it to the elevator and headed down to the beautiful enclosed gardens Noctia had used to play in as a child. It didn't take her long to get them to her favorite spot, a little stone garden with a bench under a huge-boughed tree that she'd always loved as a child.

"This one always reminds me of my time in Tenebrae," she admitted to her father. There were such huge trees there, and it was beautiful, that was what she always remembered.

He wasn't distracted, though, his eyes were watching her, placing the weight of royal presence on her without staring.

"I... um... don't really know how you're going to take this," she admitted.

A small flicker in her father's eyes showed a hint of concern before it disappeared, and Noctia knew she could have learned an awful lot from those eyes, if she could stand to see the man attached to them grow a decade every year. "Hopefully with calm and grace," he answered. "You are my only daughter, and I love you dearly."

"So... um..." She bit her lip, Six this was so hard. She looked up at his face, she needed to see his face and she was also terrified by it all the same. "You're... going to be a grandfather."

The surprise was immediate, not even her father's diplomatic composure could keep him from showing the naked shock. "You're pregnant?" He didn't sound disgusted or angry at least, only very, very surprised.

"Yes. Um... about twelve weeks?"

His bottom lip moved, the little jut of his jaw he had sometimes when he was thinking, and he looked away for a moment. Noctia wanted to drag his head back, so she could make sure he wasn't angry with her. There were only two people in the universe she didn't want to be mad with her, her father, and Ignis, and Ignis wasn't, but her father...

"I was unaware you had... a gentleman friend."

Gentleman friend. That was probably better than 'boy leech' or something... "Yeah... about eleven months or so?" She answered. She was going to need to come clean on this, that much was clear, so she might as well start digging. "We've known each other longer, though."

Her father continued to mull, and Noctia wished he'd just say something, happy or sad, right now she didn't care, but the suspense was killing her. "Has he asked to marry you?"

"Uh... he... asked if I wanted him to ask. I said no."

That was the wrong answer, at least it seemed to be if the way her father pinched the bridge of his nose was any indication. "I take it you don't share a strong affection."

"What?!" She straightened. She had plenty of strong affection! "No! I love him to bits, but my Consort would be... you know... public appearances and riding together in cars and dancing at state functions and that's just not what either of us want. Well... I mean the dancing would be nice, but the rest just isn't either of our speeds."

Her father chuckled, and shook his head, but at least he was smiling now, and Noctia smiled back, trying to keep that smile on his face. "You declined an offer of marriage because you'd rather he was your lover than your Consort?"

"Yeah. Is there a better reason?"

"No, I suppose not. There's no reason he needs to be part of your public persona if you don't wish," he continued. "But if you don't wish to marry him, I don't intend to force the issue. I was more hoping he was not... using the circumstance to social climb."

"Nah. He'd propose if I asked," Noctia answered, no hesitation, because Iggy'd get down on one knee if she wanted, she knew that, but he would also just love her and hold her and not get bogged down in their stations like that. Adviser and lover was already a tough balancing act for him, she didn't envy him trying to balance Consort as well.

"Indeed he even asked if you wished to be asked," her father answered, shaking his head. "An odd choice, but fairly apt. I should like to meet him."

Noctia looked down at her hands for a moment. "So you're... not mad?"

"No." He shook his head, and leaned in to press a soft kiss to her forehead, leaving the scratchy beard to press there and tickle before he retreated. "I think it would be... wonderful to see a grandchild into the world."

She let out a very relieved sigh.

"You're not getting away with hiding this man away forever, daughter. He needs to at the very least meet with my approval." When she looked up at him, though, the very stern facade melted and he looked nothing but smiles.

"I... worry you'll be mad," she admitted. It was hard to get away from the fact that it could look bad. The things that made Ignis an _amazing_ boyfriend also meant that her father might be pretty upset with the fact that Ignis had taken his position of adviser and become Noctia's lover.

"Why?" Her father asked, and the two of their hands met to squeeze tight.

"Well..." Everything. "I started it. Alright?"

He chuckled. "Alright."

"He's... super thoughtful, always making sure I'm happy and comfortable," she continued, thinking about the million things that made Ignis perfect and how much she wanted to make certain her dad knew that. "He... I just really don't want you to think badly of him."

Her father ran a thumb against the back of her hand. "It is a bit hard to swallow that such a conscientious young man got you pregnant."

"Yeah... I..." Six she had to be blushing to the roots of her hair, because Ignis _absolutely always_ wore a condom... except when Noctia basically climbed on top of him and condoms were more than an arm's reach away... which happened... not infrequently. They'd had sex in the training room at least a half-dozen times, the back of the Regalia, the kitchen counter... "No method's a hundred percent... and... um... that's with perfect use which... um... I'm... not good at... letting him do..."

He filled in the blanks, that much was clear from the way he winced the wince of a father who didn't want to think about his daughter having sex, much less his daughter enjoying it so much to forego condoms in her haste to have it.

"I think I have a picture I don't want to have," her father said, finally.

"So... please give him a chance?"

Her father nodded. "Of course. I would hardly endear myself to dismiss him out of hand, would I? And no matter what I think of the boy, he is the father of my grandchild."

"Right... um..." She just needed to say it now. "It's... Ignis."

"Ignis."

"Yeah..."

"He..." He looked... yup, pretty angry. "I thought he seemed a bit frayed this morning. I see why you thought I would be upset, now."

"And you are?" She asked, wincing.

"And a bit angry at myself for not foreseeing the outcome."

"He didn't pressure me at all," Noctia said, tried to assure him.

"I meant that Ignis is a well-bred, intelligent, and thoughtful young man who you've known since your childhood," her father said. "I did consider several girls for the position, but it's hard to compete with near perfection. It's fairly understandable that you at the very least came to find him attractive."

"... Don't forget built..." Noctia said under her breath, flushing just a bit as she said it. "I mean I asked him almost two years ago. He turned me down, flat. 'Not proper'. And then I finally asked him if he really wasn't attracted to me and he admitted he was and he _still_ wouldn't date me for another four months."

They'd admittedly screwed pretty spectacularly the second Ignis finally admitted that his feelings weren't going anywhere and hers weren't either, but dad didn't need to know that.

"You've made a case for him," her father said. "Now, I want to see him."

She fished out her phone and looked at the screen, unlocking it before checking her messages from Ignis. He'd been silent for the last half-hour, unsurprising, and she eventually tapped out a message: _'garden... I think you might not die'_.

_'How very encouraging.'_

Noctia giggled slightly at that, and then slipped her phone back into her pocket. "Sorry, he's... well he's been worried for a year, I think he would have preferred if you didn't get the boyfriend _and_ pregnant thing at the same time."

Her father shook her head. "Six, that almost slipped my mind. I... have you felt alright?"

"A little queasy," she admitted. "Tired... nothing too bad. Jasmine is working on exercise plans and dietary things and Gladio and Ignis aren't going to let me get out of either half of that. She says the queasy should go away in another few weeks... and she wants me to put on a couple pounds... so I'll eat."

"Excuse me, Your Grace."

The two of them looked up, realizing that Ignis had come up fairly unannounced, his little attache case under his arm, looking ramrod straight and very, very nervous.

"Ignis," her father sounded... exasperated, and tired, and she hated the idea that she'd done that to him, but... "I should fire you."

"If you require my resignation, it will be yours."

"Ignis, don't fold like a pack of cards!" Noctia protested, because the guy didn't even put up a fight!

He smiled at her, very softly, and despite the circumstances Noctia felt herself melt just a little bit. Her father said nothing else, but gestured for Ignis to sit, which he did at Noctia's side and the two of them are quiet for long minutes.

"How was the Council?" She asked. She had tried to ask more since she had tried to take more of an interest in the country, but she couldn't help but find it just a little boring.

"Ah... the various technological proposals were discussed, Councilor Aurus seemed most articulate on the counterargument so I asked him to prepare any research materials he might have so you could review them."

"Thanks," she said, softly. "I don't think it makes a lot of sense, but I'd like to understand it at least."

Ignis gave one of his little hums to indicate his agreement and little more. "Morning training?"

She shrugged. "Jasmine came and joined us, she and Gladio are going to work on a new regimen for me for the next seven months. No more live sparring..."

"Small thanks for that," Ignis answered. "And don't let steamed broccoli and baked chicken stand in the way of you enjoying a healthier meal. I'll look into some options, and it sounds like I'll need to start preparing you lunches again."

"Yeah..." She loved Ignis's cooking, but she really didn't like lunch.

"Jasmine recommended spinach pesto," he continued, obviously forcing himself through his discomfort with the fact they were having this conversation in front of her father. "I thought i might try spinach pasta..."

She made a face, and he chuckled in response, it made sense, she loved fried food, but never much cared for straight oil in the likes of pesto.

"Ignis."

His back straightened immediately, and he turned towards her father. "Your Grace?"

"Try as I might, I can't justify dismissing you from your position."

Ignis's face was surprised for a moment, but he quickly schooled his features to blankness. "I... of course."

"My understanding is that you asked Noctia if she wished a marriage?" He asked.

"She declined," Ignis answered, smoothly. "Although I would propose if requested, I recognize that Lucis's political future may demand Noctia's marital capital remains undeminished."

"You'd watch her marry another man?" Her father asked, sounding shocked, and the idea hurt a little bit.

The part of her that loved Ignis also didn't want to belong to someone else, but... she knew it was the right move, politically.

"I recognize that despite my station, the fall of my home territory to Niflheim in my youth leaves me with no territory, magics, or money to offer to strengthen the Crown or Lucis. I am a terrible choice of husband politically. All that I can offer, I offer as a man who stays by your daughter's side, and I do not require a bond of matrimony to make that vow."

Her father sighed, and then looked at both of the, but he didn't seem displeased, merely sad. "You are correct that your marriage to Noctia would be politically disastrous right now, but then my concern must fall squarely on the head of the child. Noctia was chosen by the Crystal to be the King of Light, the culmination of the line of Lucis... This fact, Niflheim fears more than all else."

"The marilith... the invasion of Tenebrae..." Ignis whispered. The Empire had spent many years attempting to bring an end to the line of Lucis and the future King of Light.

"Many of the Ruling Council believe that perhaps the Crystal was mistaken, and that Noctia is not the King of Light, that the King must naturally be male despite the use of the title King for both male and female Caelums. News of your condition will escape the capital quickly... and my fear is, should you have a son..."

"The Empire will stop at nothing to see him killed, thinking the Crystal merely chose the King of Light's mother..." Noctia finished for him, and she felt her hand start to go to her belly protectively, only to stop the motion. There could be eyes anywhere, and her father spoke as though he intended to hide it, perhaps.

"What would you have us do, Your Majesty?"

"I... will speak to Clarus. I have a thought."

*

Ignis was uncertain he had ever been quite so involved in a tactical planning mission of this magnitude before, the smaller and more intimate Council chamber was devoid of most of the occupants he was used to sharing a chamber with.

"Clarus..." The king sat at the head of the table, and the King's Shield came to sit beside him, as Ignis held a chair for Noctia and then sat next to her.

"What happened?" Clarus asked, very clearly aware of exactly how much of a mess there must be if the four of them were in a room together.

"I need your perspective on am issue of some import," the king continued, and Ignis felt Noctia's back straighten and she seemed to be fighting back the urge to bristle but also realizing that there might need to be something done.

The idea that his child, their child, might be at risk due to the Empire had never even crossed his mind. He was content enough to deal with the mundane tasks that came with having a pregnant lover, but the stark reminder that they were at war couldn't be ignored.

"Noctia is with child."

Clarus's eyes widened in shock, passing over Ignis in a matter of an instant before fixing the princess with his gaze. "The father?" He asked, clearly wondering if that was the issue.

The king gestured to Ignis, and his own back straightened in response. "That is not the issue."

"I... see..." He turned back to the king at that. "The repercussions, then?"

"My concern is that Niflheim has never made a point of playing fair concerning Noctia and her place in the prophecy," the king answered. "I also have become more concerned that if my grandchild is a boy... there will be some who seek to see him dead merely on the chance that he is the King of Light."

Councilor Clarus sighed. "The Marilith was hardly the first attempt on Noct's life... to say nothing of the increased vulnerability brought on by the pregnancy."

Noctia didn't resist the urge to grab his hand, and Ignis squeezed back with all his might, trying to assure her everything would be fine, but knowing there could be no assurances. "I do want to keep it," she said, no doubt lest someone be confused on that point.

"The war has reached a perilous moment," Clarus said. "Territory is slowly being swallowed, and not even the Kingsglaive can stand against the demons that have come under the control of the Empire. We don't even know how they are forging these pacts, and yet they seem to serve if not willingly..." The Shield shook his head. "It will not be more than two years until the armies of Niflheim are at our front door.

Ignis squeezed Noctia's hand again. He knew the danger all too well, his own home had been consumed in the flames of war in his youth. "You mean to say that if ever there is a time when the land will be shrouded in darkness, you believe it will be soon?"

The king nodded, and Noctia bowed her head.

"We know little," Clarus continued. "But... yes. The truth is it is possible that her pregnancy could endanger her ability to..."

The king raised a hand again. "I'll not tell my daughter she cannot have a child for some prophecy," he said, voice stern. On anyone else it would have been the harshest of chastisements, but it was clear that Clarus only took it as the king's resolve on the matter. "But... I'm concerned that is exactly what I may need to say."

"Father," Noctia protested, a hand over her belly, protective, and it was only a deeply ingrained propriety that kept Ignis from protesting as well.

"If a child is born to Lucian blood right now..." The king shook his head. "Its life will be nothing but pain, Noctia. It's hard enough to look my daughter in the eye and know the weight I must force her to bear far too soon."

"But..." Noctia looked to him, and Ignis smiled, soft as he could, and squeezed her hand, wishing he could help and make this better. The truth was that Clarus and the king understood the delicacy of the issue far better than even Ignis could have.

"It seems our... personal wants may again need to fall into service of the kingdom," Ignis said, wishing it wasn't the case, and yet... "You said... you had a thought, Your Majesty?"

The king stood, and if was with great care that he came to to stand by Noctia, and then gently sat himself in the chair beside her. "I know... that you have always been asked to sacrifice a great deal. As often as I find myself spoiling you, I also know that you've been given an unimaginable burden. With all my heart, I would love to hold a grandchild in my arms as I once held you..."

"But...?" Noctia's lips quivered, tears in her eyes and in her voice.

"I ask that you consider... allowing the child to be raised by another."

Ignis felt the need to protest. He had his station and his place, he knew this, but this was his child as well as Noctia's. "Sire, that would just not be done! Noctia's child is a legitimate heir to Lucis, to have it placed for adoption, to be raised by strangers..."

"Not strangers," Clarus interrupted, and Ignis's head shot up, forgetting that the man was even there in the moment. "You always did have a way of asking without asking, didn't you, Regis?"

The king smiled in response, but said nothing.

"Since you'll not say it," the Shield continued. "He wants Jasmine and I to pass the child as our own. Our youngest is almost two, it's a reasonable age for us to have another, although we'd not intended it. A later announcement would not be improper, it's well known that woman of more advanced childbearing years are more likely to miscarry... How far along are you, Highness?"

"Twelve weeks..." Noctia said, eyes squeezing shut.

"There will be rumors... we'll need to direct them as much as possible."

"Rumors, M'Lord?" Ignis asked, not happy at all, but at least trying to understand what the two were considering.

"Jasmine will eventually have to present a child that no doctor will be able to attest to delivering without ruining the facade. Where the child came from will be a point of at least small curiosity."

"Two layers of facade," Ignis clarified. "The falsehood, and a falsehood that offers an explanation for the lie, allowing the casual onlooker to arrive at an incorrect conclusion even if they realize that the child is not your wife's?"

Clarus nodded.

"I don't want this," Noctia protested. "I don't... I don't really have a choice... do I?"

"Of course you have a choice," Ignis assured her, as much as he knew he should likely fall in line with His Majesty and Clarus in this plan, he could not in good conscience tell his lover to give up their child out of hand, with no room to protest.

"It was stupid to think I could have this in the first place," she continued. "If marrying you would ruin my political capital, certainly already having birthed an heir to the throne would ruin it all the same, wouldn't it?"

Ignis looked away from her, because she was right, and he had not wanted to say it.

"If you wish to marry---" The king began.

"You already called it disastrous," Noctia protested. "I already knew that, but... the war... it's really going that poorly?"

He didn't know whether to be gratified or not that Noctia looked to him for the answer, but he nodded. "Yes, we are losing territory by the mile, the Empire had already begun to construct military outposts within striking distance of Insomnia..."

"This was so simple a few days ago..."

"You are a Princess," Ignis reminded her, as though she could have forgotten. "Your personal affairs will never be simple... as much as I know that simplicity is part of the charm."

"You think this is a good idea."

It wasn't a question. He nodded anyway. "If it were simply a matter of us... there would be no question of what I wanted, but even the introduction of our child has complicated this far beyond belief. I... believe His Majesty has his grandchild's best interest at heart, he would hardly... advocate this as our best course if he did not."

Noctia stood, and the assembled men followed, and she pressed her hand over her belly. "Can I... think about it?"

"Of course," her father answered.

"Iggy..." She never called him Iggy in front of her father, and Ignis saw it as a testament to how distraught she was right now that she had done so. "Can we... go home?"

He nodded, and held a hand out, which he'd meant for her to take just for a moment, only for her to fall into his arms, and he hugged her, wishing he could do anything to make what her father had said go away, to have it not be true.

After she had collected herself, the two of them headed back to her apartment, and Ignis settled beside her on the couch.

"Noct," he said softly. "Talk to me..."

"I... I keep wondering if I should..." She pressed a hand over her belly again. "Do you think it would be better to have an abortion?"

He honestly didn't know. "I think... you need to weigh it for yourself. I had no idea how tenuous the situation was, or that your father so strongly believes our child will be targeted by Niflheim... but I can't deny it has more sense than I would care to admit. Your father offered us a way to hide our child in plain sight... perhaps it can live a life..."

"Never need to worry about the Wall... but... He'd be tied to the Crystal, he'd..." She shook her head. "Do you think this is what every King has ever felt? The New Wall is new... but.. the Crystal has always tied itself to the Kings and exacted such a toll..."

"There..." Ignis didn't know exactly what to say. He knew that the prophecy spoke of a time of great darkness, and that there was to be a King of Light to shine brightness into that time. He knew that this was likely to take a great toll on Noctia... "There is a promise of a time past the darkness to come, that is the promise of the prophecy of the King of Light."

"Bring a child I can't know into darkness so it might know light? It... He? He might never even know me."

"So sure it's a boy?" Ignis asked, in a world where he was the lover to a King, to an instrument of prophecy, he could hardly deny that if Noctia said she was having a boy that he would believe her...

"I think so..." She said... "He'd be an Amicitia... he wouldn't even be mine really..."

"Yes, he would," Ignis said, voice very firm. "No matter what he is called, no matter who raises him, he will be your son, and mine, and when it's safe for him, he will know that he has parents who loved him so much they had to see him safe, even when it hurt them..."

It was clear that struck some small chord for her, and even though she was clearly still upset, she leaned into him and hugged him, the two of them tangled together on the couch.

"I'm sorry," he said, finally, wishing that he had enough words to make this better. "I... I love you, more than reason, and although I would never give that up, I cannot deny I feel responsible for the burden I've placed on you."

"As long as you carry that burden with me..." She chuckled, it was bitter, but still almost a laugh. "Not... carry... you know."

"Of course. I will do anything in my power to see your burden lightened."

"Thank you... I couldn't do it without you."

*

The next eight months of Noctia's life were a carefully executed pageant, she worked with Gladio and stayed as fit and trim as reasonable in her condition while simultaneously going out almost nightly in order to 'drink', dance, and party. It felt incredibly wrong. She and Ignis had always been the stay at home type, and if they wanted something resembling a date they would find somewhere quiet to spend an evening and if anyone made a note of it, it was more rote than salacious, as a Princess out with her Adviser was hardly anything worthy of note. The press was far more fond of the somewhat mysterious Prompto who had entered her life in high school and was allowed to enter exclusive clubs as Noctia's guest.

Jasmine Amicitia announced her pregnancy when Noctia was four months pregnant. It was quickly noted that the doctor had been seen drinking at various social engagements as little as six weeks preceding the announcement, and rumors began to fly almost immediately that the Shield's wife was covering for an indiscretion.

The press, as was its wont, went in search of an answer, and although they could not find the mother, it was quickly determined that Gladio Amicitia was the person being covered for. His frequent disappearances in the night, and even the leaked news of him missing a few days of Crownsgurad training were enough to convince even the most skeptical of journalists. Gladio took more than his fair share of punishment duty from Cor, but he never spoke out, either to Cor or to Noctia about the burden he bore for her.

Noctia was placed under 'house arrest' with the easily believed rumor that she was entering alcohol rehab when she hit seven months and it was impossible for her to appear in public without the risk of her pregnancy being discovered, even with well-cut black garments.

It bothered her, more than she could say, but at least she had Ignis.

She had Gladio as well, but he was mostly just good for something to hit.

Noctia passed her time reading, studying, and punching the hell out of Gladio in her spacious rooms.

"Dad made some inquiries about inpatient rehab, to coincide with... delivery," Gladio said, holding out his gloved hands for Noctia to punch. "Latest trash mags have you in a downward spiral. You should probably do something stupid."

"Like get knocked up and have an entire secret team dedicated to hushing it up?" She asked. She was sulking, she would blame the hormones but mostly she blamed the whole damn circumstance. She blamed herself... she never blamed Ignis, even though he knew he blamed himself.

Eventually she grabbed her least favorite jewelry box and threw it against the wall, watching dozens of bits of jewelry scatter on the ground, the paint and plaster of the wall chip, and the hinge of the box shatter under the force of the blow. At Gladio's urging she also punched him in the face, bloodying his nose and leaving a hefty bruise on his cheek, and then she hoisted a lighter chair and flung it against the Citadel window. The glass didn't even crack, but the chair splintered.

Ignis, of course, came in a few minutes later to see her sitting on the ground, feet folded under her, crying over the little Carbuncle statue she still had from when she was a child.

"You know your father would still support your decision if you wished to change your mind," Ignis said, the two of them quietly talking in the bedroom as Gladio called in a servant to clean up the scattered mess Noctia had made of her sitting room.

"Did we suddenly start winning the war while I've been here?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Cleigne has fallen, there are new fortifications being built by the Empire as we speak. We know not when, but... most expect terms of surrender to come forth sometime in the next few months."

She hung her head. "Long live the Line, and this Stone divine, For the Night when All comes to Naught..." 

Ignis sat beside her and pressed a soft kiss to her jaw. "Your father believes he can hold the wall for perhaps another decade... but beyond that..."

She shook her head. Her father wasn't even fifty, and yet he looked old enough to be her grandfather. "So pretty much anything that stops the fighting is going to sound good..." She pressed a hand to her belly, wishing that this was just so much less complicated. She wanted to be happy, she wanted to be overjoyed that she was having a child, she was having a child with a man she loved more than anyone else in the universe except for the little person about to come into the world... "And even then, if father lets the Wall come down... any terms of peace will mean little with Insomnia ripe for the plucking."

"Indeed," Ignis answered, reaching out to press his own hand atop her belly. "Not long now."

"Another week at most..." She sighed, and pressed her head against Ignis's shoulder. "And then... sometimes it just makes me want to run," she admitted. She wouldn't, she knew she couldn't, she knew the world depended on her... but when it was just her and Ignis she couldn't help but want that.

Ignis knew she didn't mean it, at least not seriously, but he did rub slightly, and she watched his eyes light at the none too gentle kick that greeted his hand. "At least his position with the Amicitias means you'll see him. Iris brings over her other brothers and sisters sometimes... or would that hurt more than it healed?"

"I don't know..." She really didn't know.

Four days later, her son came into the world after six hours of labor in near total silence in the Amicitia guest bedroom.

It had been a hard choice... She knew that the Amicitias named all of their children for flowers, a Caelum name would have been conspicuous...

"Look at his toes," she said, voice soft as he fed at her breast, she didn't know what it was about those tiny little things that made a child so real.. but she took one in her fingers and wiggled it. She knew that when dawn broke, Jasmine would take the child to be 'delivered' and she didn't have much time...

"I think he's going to have your nose," Ignis said after a moment. Noctia self-consciously rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"As long as he keeps your eyes..." Truth to tell, that was the only part she was worried about, blue or green eyes, although they had taken on a very green hue already. Clarus had blue eyes, but all of the Amicitias had Jasmine's brown eyes... "I decided on a name," she said. "I hope... Jasmine and Clarus are alright with it."

"I would hope they would respect your decision."

"Aster," she said, running a hand over his nearly bald head. "It a flower, of course, but it means star..."

"Aster Lucis Caelum," Ignis said a moment later.

"Aster Scientia."

Both of them quieted as the pair of them likely thought the same thing: it would not be that long, just Aster Amicitia...

He was presented at court a week later, and if Noctia looked haggard and worn it was largely assumed it was due to her own recent substance troubles. The offer of peace came, as expected, two months later, and the terms were set: Noctia would marry Lunis Nox Flauret as a gesture of goodwill between the nations.

She set out, her friends at her side... and her son left behind.

When news of the sack of Insomnia came, and the death of her father and Clarus Amicitia, Noctia could spare a few moments of grief for Clarus and far longer for her father, but she couldn't deny exactly where her thoughts flew the moment she heard, and the moment she saw the warships flying across the inland sea to the city.

"Did... many people make it out?" She asked, Ignis coming to set a hand on her shoulder as they watched the Imperial Fleet move in.

"We don't know yet," Gladio answered, looking at his own phone. "The Crownsguard probably would have prioritized... children of Councilors."

Noctia tried not to think about it. She wasn't certain she had the strength in that moment to mourn her father, her country, and her son...

They met with Cor. The man had no love lost for any of her entourage, in truth he seemed most impressed with Prompto just because Gladio had been intentionally slacking to cover for Noctia and Noctia's recent absence from the limelight was well-accepted to have been because of her spate of alcohol abuse... likely she didn't make a very impressive Queen for Cor to follow. Her own distraction while she waited for word of Aster, a tiny little child that few would bother to place in the same breath as the King, but whose fate Noctia cared about more than anything else in the world.

Cor did his duty, however, and placed her on the path to retrieve the Royal Arms, but the only thing she could hold onto was the assurances that Monica had given to Gladio: Iris had made it out of the capital safe, and that Jasmine Amicitia had stayed behind... but insisted her newborn son be spirited from the capital with her eldest daughter.

Aster Amicitia... safe in Lestallum.

Any thought of giving in to Prompto's desires to see chocobos paled in comparison to the burning need to see her son, alive and safe, although her best friend knew exactly what Lestallum meant to her as soon as she heard that Aster was safe.

It was stupid, and risky, but Noctia gave herself one last weakness as a mother, and joined Iris for a morning walk around Lestallum, Aster in Iris's arms as she showed Noctia the sights, and she tried to laugh, she really did, but every once in a while Aster would glance her way and her breath caught as she saw Ignis's eyes look at her, so curious, before she turned away lest she start crying in the middle of the streets of Lestallum.

*

Cor waited.

It was something he had never been good at in his youth, but he'd perfected the task to an art in his later years. Her Majesty had gone off to the Vesperpool in search of mythril to fix the boat they would need to leave Port Caem in secret, and Cor had long moments to reflect on the oddity of the former Princess and her dedicated entourage. 

The day Insomnia had fallen, Cor's heart had been in his stomach. The loss of the King, the loss of the Wall, the loss of Clarus Amicitia and the other Councilors was a blow that Insomnia would never fully recover from, not in his lifetime... but what pained him as he spirited Iris and the youngest Amicitia out of Insomnia had not been the past... the past he could not change, but the future.

Not four months ago, Princess Noctia had been in rehab for almost a year's worth of poor decisions, and yet... from the moment he brought her to the first Royal Tomb she commanded and fought with a ferocity and dedication that he never would have expected. Her three retainers also startled him with the faith they placed in their liege. 

The loyalty from Scientia was the most startling to him. Scientia had joined the Crownsguard as a trainee at only ten, shortly after Gladiolus, due to his attachment to the Princess and their longstanding friendship. But if Cor would have expected anything, he would have thought the Princess's recent escapades would have at least soured the friendship somewhat. Scientia had always been serious and focused on his duties, and it was hard to imagine that his loyalty hadn't been tested by Noctia's behavior... instead he seemed more dedicated than ever.

Iris stepped out of the safe house the lot of them had been staying in, Aster Amicitia in her arms, drinking greedily from the offered bottle.

Cor nodded to her, and Iris took it as invitation to come over to sit near him and watch him train, which he did for an hour before coming to sit by the girl on the rocky half wall that surrounded the garden.

"How is he?"

"Fussy..." Iris answered. "Sometimes I wonder if he somehow... knows."

Cor considered it, and decided it was impossible that a three month old baby could have any understanding of what was going on around him other than if it was noisy or not, or if he was hungry or not, but Cor didn't say that.

He looked at the little blob and his bright green eyes... and tried to decide if it was worth his mind wondering about the things that just didn't add up with Aster Amicitia.

The eyes were wrong. That was the most obvious. But the thing that truly haunted him was the moment he came to the Amicitia estate, knowing he could take Iris - the only Amicitia child still in Insomnia capable of keeping up and keeping quiet - and when he looked Lady Jasmine in the eyes and said: "I can only take one more" she hadn't even hesitated.

Cor wasn't a father, but he was still startled by the way Jasmine's eyes skated past her other children, obviously conflicted and hurt, but there wasn't even a second to ponder the choice... Aster had been thrust into his arms in under a minute, a dark blanket wrapped around him and a pacifier at his mouth.

"Look after him," she said. Cor hadn't thought much of it at the time, but it seemed... oddly weighted in retrospect. Of course he would look after an Amicitia child...

Even if Aster was not Jasmine's, as the occasional rumor had suggested, but instead her grandson, the lack of hesitation just seemed... impossible. The Amicitias had seven children, and in one action Jasmine had likely consigned four of them to death at the hands of the Empire...

Cor would have hesitated. He knew that.

The Princess and her royal entourage returned, forged mythril part in hand, and the four of them had an easy evening in the lower floor of the Caem house, playing cards and just relaxing.

"Beer, Marshall?" Scientia offered, presenting some sort of local flavor from Lestallum, Cleigne wheat, apparently.

Cor took it, wordlessly, and then opened it, but frowned the moment Scientia passed an opened bottle to the Princess, his first sip died on his lips. He could easily imagine the Princess of his memory sneaking alcohol behind Scientia's back... but to have him _offer_ it, after she'd been drinking herself into a stupor regularly...

The man seemed to think nothing of it, however, passing another one to her when asked, and when he offered her a third, she declined, simply yawning and canting her head backwards to sleep before she leaned towards Scientia and curled into his casually offered embrace. Cor was a soldier, and a commander of men, he knew how drink could rob a man of his faculties and senses, and he also knew that it was not a vice that was overcome in months, or even years. For many it was a battle of a lifetime...

It didn't add up.

Gladio came to speak to him that evening, well into his fifth beer, and slightly off-center. "I... I have a favor to ask."

Cor waited.

"Aster..." Gladio paused. "Look after him, alright?"

The same entreaty from Jasmine, repeated on Gladio's lips... Cor nodded.

"He's... he's important, alright?"

"He's yours," Cor clarified.

"... No." And oddly Cor felt certain that was the truth. "But just... please, alright?"

Cor nodded, more confused than ever about the boy, but knowing that if Gladio and Jasmine both asked it of him, there was no way he could refuse.

The next day, the four headed off to Altissia, and Cor resumed his exercises and Iris resumed her own vigil over the tiny Amicitia. As usual, he joined her after he finished his morning exercises, and when he looked down at the squishy ball of humanity in her arms he noted an addition.

After a moment's hesitation he picked it up, looking at the carved figurine. Carbuncle... the astral guardian of the Lucian house...

"Do you know what that is?" Iris asked.

"Um..." He frowned. "Where did you get it?"

"I think Noctia must have picked it up for him in Lestallum or something," Iris answered, giving him the one answer that made more than a few curious puzzle pieces fall into place.

"Noctia, huh?" He turned it over in his hands, and if there was any doubt he saw the carved 'Carby' where Noctia had given it a name soon after she had woken from her coma. "No," he lied. "I don't know, but it seems important, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Iris agreed. "She said that she wanted him to have it. I didn't know she really thought much of him..."

"Aster..." He looked down at the child.

"Yeah," Iris answered.

"... What does it mean?"

"It's a flower." Her voice held an undercurrent of 'obviously, dummy'. "It's purple with lots of petals, and in one of the older tongues it means 'star'."

Star...

The press had wondered after who on Eos the Amicitia family would protect at all costs, and for some reason... for some reason no one had ever thought to look to the waifishly thin Princess who had been drinking herself into a stupor... who despite alcohol trouble was still willingly and casually being offered drink by her closest adviser... who had left her guardian astral with a tiny child as she went off to face the rage of the most vicious of the Six...

"Six above..."

Iris looked up at him, confused.

"Nothing," he lied again, and shook his head. "It's... a pretty name."

The three men must have known. Gladio knew his mother had sacrificed most of the Amicitia line to see it was the crown prince who was safely spirited from the city. Some in the Crownsguard had suspected Prompto of being the source of several tabloid pictures of the Princess even late into her house arrest and yet despite the obviousness of the leak the boy was never ordered to stay away. And Scientia... there was no way he didn't know, if anything Cor had noted how close he was to the Princess; they had always been friends, and yet he was so obviously aware of the weight the Princess had been carrying...

He left Iris there with Aster, and walked to the coast where the boat that had spirited away Noctia could no longer be seen on the horizon. A thousand pieces fell into place, and he didn't even need to be told the story to realize what must have happened and what a handful of people had done to see the play to its end.

"Godspeed, Your Majesty... I will watch over your son."


End file.
